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BMW has been quietly developing hydrogen power for road cars, but the technology remains a long way away from reaching a performance model.
Hydrogen power in a BMW M car remains a distant thought – if it ever becomes a reality – according to the performance division's boss, Frank van Meel, citing struggles with packaging the technology into compact race and road cars.
“It’s not that easy right now. We need fuel stacks, and that's not the only thing,” van Meel told Australian media.
“We need a couple of them if you want to have the performance, and then of course you need the cooling for them, and that makes the car grow into [the size of] a truck.”
BMW has one of the few major car brands still working on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, most recently fitting it to a fleet of iX5 prototypes built since 2019, ahead of plans to commence series production of a hydrogen-powered, next-generation X5 in 2028.
“We haven't found the solution yet for endurance racing with hydrogen, unless you use it as a regular fuel, but then you also have emissions,” said van Meel.
“For us, hydrogen means we use fuel stacks, and we have no emissions at all. So that is our philosophy. But actually, we haven't found any way of bringing that to real life and racing.”
The executive is referring to BMW's preference to use hydrogen in fuel-cell power stacks, which generate electrical energy to power electric motors that drive the wheels, leaving water as the only tailpipe emission.
It is opposed to technology that Toyota is currently exploring, which retains the fundamentals of an internal combustion engine, but uses hydrogen in place of petrol, producing nitrogen oxide and small traces of CO2 as emissions.
Still, BMW is looking to further develop hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles as it has done in the past with the iX5, with plans to launch a series-production model in 2025 based on the next-generation X5, using technology co-developed with Toyota.
It follows a partnership between the two companies dating back to 2011, which has seen the car giants collaborate on hydrogen technology in commercial and passenger vehicles.
BMW updated the world on its plans to continue with a hydrogen fuel-cell car back in September 2025, showing off a heavily camouflaged X5 – likely sporting the next generation under its skin.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
